Watchdog criticises UK ministers’ ‘antagonism’ towards human rights

A ‘kill the bill’ protest in Westminster before the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act was passed. Photograph: Martin Pope/Getty Images

The UK government has “an increasingly antagonistic attitude” towards human rights that is weakening instead of strengthening protections for the public, a European inquiry has found.

Inflammatory language used by MPs and officials to describe lawyers could put their safety at risk, according to the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović.